In 2015, the sometimes genius Guy Ritchie released Operation U.N.C.L.E., an excellent espionage thriller about the Cold War with a 60's look and an all-star cast: Alice Vikander, Christian Bale, Hugh Grant and the "damned" Armie Hammer. Harry Palmer: The Ipcress File takes on this attractive style to adapt Len Deighton's novels, which had already been made into a film with Michael Caine in the lead role. The actor chosen to take over is Joe Cole, known as John Shelby in Peaky Blinders. The creator of the series is James Watkins, one of those great talented artists that British television has, responsible for the notable series McMafia and some episodes of Black Mirror.

The series is a prodigy of elegance in planning, locations and costumes. It is not surprising that the cinematographer of the series (Tim Maurice-Jones) is the same of some of Guy Ritchie's best films such as Snatch, Pigs and Diamonds. The screenplay by Scotsman John Lodge, writer of Danny Boyle's early filmography(Trainspotting, A Different Story), matches the levels of wit and suggestive dialogue that show the protagonists deserve to work in the American and British intelligence services.

Along with the charismatic protagonist, there are characters of dramatic interest played by actors who, without being so well known, show a lot of skill. This is the case of Lucy Boynton, wonderful as Freddy Mercury's wife in Bohemian Rhapsody, or as a rebellious teenager in Sing Street. In the series she is the impossible girlfriend of the spy, in a character that reminds us a lot of classic cinema and actresses like Grace Kelly or Kim Novak. Other secondary characters such as Tom Hollander(The Infiltrator), Paul Bazely(Cruella) or David Dennick(No Time to Die) also stand out.

The decision to suggest the spy's life without the need to show his multiple "professional" adventures is a success that is not shared by other magnificent fictions with the same plot, such as The Americans or Homeland. A way of telling the story very consistent with classic cinema that favors the dramatic and plausible development of the characters.